Hayate Reflections: The Significance Of "I Loved You"

A lot of manga readers nowadays are quite blind to many of the subtle literary clues left behind by the author and of course, when they can’t detect it, it’s automatically “bad writing.” In fact, in terms of Hayate, some of these clues are figuratively staring at you in the face, yet very few people acknowledge them.  Oh, and before you go off on a tangent, if you will readback on my blog, I have actually acknowledged certain points wherein Hata might have left behind red herrings (as they have been proven to be now) for all the other ships, but as you all know, you’ve lost.

Ok,  so today, we’re going to discuss one blatant clue left behind in the manga which was confirmed and then re-confirmed twice.

What I’m talking about of course, is Hayate and Athena’s iconic mutual confession scene near the end of the Golden Week arc. We all know what they say to each other, right? Obviously, if you haven’t read the manga, then you don’t have a clue what I’m talking about. Anyway, they both say “I loved you,” in the past tense. Now this is obviously significant because it signals the end of their relationship – which was never rekindled even though Athena shippers were hoping against all hopes and contrary to all evidence that it would be.

Of course, you could say that the “I loved you” thing was one-time only. In fact, you could even have handwaved it into obscurity and claim that the author never put much importance in it… except he did.

A few chapters later, we see that Wataru plans to confess to Isumi and yet, at the point when he does make the confession, he echoes the very same words that Athena shippers so dreaded to hear: “I loved you.” Of course, Isumi’s response was quite lukewarm and we all know who Wataru ended up with – even though he never claimed that he loved Saki at all, did he now? Nope, he just said something about building a future together with her, but that was enough for your nerd logic, wasn’t it? So why isn’t “My feelings of wanting to protect your future haven’t changed,” not enough for Hayate and Nagi? Right, think about that for a bit.

But wait, Wataru’s example wasn’t enough for you? You still think that twice is just a coincidence? Well, let’s fast forward to the finale then. Chapter 565, which I’ve actually covered. And… one of the most resilient and persistent girls vying for Hayate’s heart , Ayumu,says it herself, “I loved you,” and again, it has the same message, the end of a relationship – or in her case, the end of pursuing a possible romance with Hayate. Also, just as a reminder to Athena fans, Athena also definitively sunk her ship just a few chapters before this. It’s not relevant to this discussion, but I just thought I’d let you know.

So here’s the thing: if Hayate were happening in real life and we were to disregard that it was written by a living, breathing, imperfect human being, then yeah, all these coincidences would probably mean nothing. However, because Hayate is a manga that was written by an author named Kenjiro Hata and given the precise and specific use of the words “I loved you” in all these three different, separate scenarios, and all to convey the same meaning, I think it’s pretty easy to conclude that these words are indeed intended to do just what they did: to end a relationship.

Now let’s skip to the penultimate chapter 567. Again, we see Hayate in a tearful farewell scene with Nagi after everything that has happened so far. There is no more misunderstanding between them at this point, yet Hayate would have been willing to stay with Nagi as her butler. This time however, it is Nagi who lets him go, but wait… she doesn’t say the magic words: “I loved you.” How about Hayate? All he says is, “I am truly grateful.” This is because the author never intended for their parting to be permanent – which of course, is confirmed in the final chapter when they get back together, with no misunderstandings, with hands intertwined, in what is the “true ending” to the series, as proclaimed by Hata himself.

This is lorcloudx and this has been Hayate Reflections. See you next week~

Fanart Corner

For this week's fanart, here's a painting that I'm quite proud of. I used Kuretake Gansai Tambi Watercolors on a piece of 9x12 Canson 200 GSM Watercolor Paper. Oh, and Hata replied to me again. That's nice... considering that he's probably pretty busy with the launch of Tonikaku Kawaii's first volume.

Amazing how different an image can look depending on the camera you're using. This was taken with a digital camera. An old Agfa Precisa 1430.

And this was taken using my cellphone's frontcam. I'm using a Cherry Mobile Flare S Play